Lead GenAI Backend Platform Software Engineer

About

The Lead GenAI Backend Platform Software Engineer works independently to develop robust, scalable software solutions across the full stack—from cloud infrastructure to backend API integrations, agentic workflows, and MCP servers. This role is central to architecting and implementing a cutting‑edge generative AI regulatory chat assistant, improving overall product quality throughout the software development lifecycle, guiding team members in best practices and technical leadership, and helping identify and mitigate architectural risks. Reports to a Director or Senior Director.

Essential Job Functions

Architectural Leadership & Design

• Design and develop industry‑leading solutions that meet defined quality standards, reliability specifications, and strategic objectives.
• Lead the architecture of robust, scalable software solutions, focusing on backend services (FastAPI, Python) and LLM technologies.
• Assist with architecting and developing cloud‑native solutions leveraging AWS services (Bedrock, S3, Fargate, Aurora, Lambda, Step Functions, and emerging technologies).
• Collaborate on system architecture decisions and API design, ensuring secure, performant, and maintainable patterns.
• Demonstrate solid understanding of systems and processes within the job area and recommend improvements.

Engineering Excellence & Quality

• Design and implement high‑performance, secure APIs using FastAPI and Python, establishing patterns that the team replicates.
• Guide the team in industry‑leading practices for software development, code quality, system design, and test automation.
• Apply computer science fundamentals, including algorithm design, problem solving, complexity analysis, and data structures.
• Lead implementation of comprehensive test strategies (unit, integration, end‑to‑end) and champion test‑driven development (TDD) and automated testing frameworks.

DevOps & Infrastructure

• Assist with implementing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, fostering a strong DevOps culture.
• Identify gaps between system components and designs, delivering solutions that enable team autonomy.
• Take a broad perspective to infrastructure problems and exercise independent judgment in selecting techniques and evaluation criteria.
• Develop actionable insights from analyzing software development trends and best practices, communicating integration recommendations to management.

Mentorship & Cultural Leadership

• Mentor and guide less experienced team members in full‑stack development, API design, and system architecture.
• Coach colleagues on writing clean, maintainable, secure code and thinking systemically about software design.
• Champion collaborative resolution of defects and lead or co‑lead internal process‑improvement initiatives.
• Provide feedback on processes in line with FINRA’s values of collaboration, expertise, innovation, and responsibility.

Product & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Work on complex features requiring strong knowledge of generative AI industry practices.
• Partner within and across teams to meet shared goals and priorities.
• Openly share progress and priorities with key stakeholders, communicating complex or technical information at the appropriate level.
• Contribute proactively to the full product development lifecycle, from ideation through deployment.

Generative AI & Emerging Technologies

• Develop and refine system integration with large language models (LLMs) and generative AI technologies (e.g., agents and MCP servers).
• Design secure patterns for handling sensitive data within AI‑powered workflows, ensuring regulatory compliance.
• Identify innovative applications of AI/LLM capabilities to improve system functionality and user experience.
• Stay informed of advances in LLM frameworks (e.g., LangGraph, Google ADK, AWS Strands), optimization approaches, and emerging AI capabilities.

Security & Compliance

• Ensure all work products meet or exceed FINRA and team standards for secure development practices.
• Assist with adherence to technology policies and compliance with all security controls.
• Lead secure coding practices and threat modeling for API and infrastructure components.
• Ensure secure handling of personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive regulatory data throughout the development lifecycle.

Education / Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related discipline or equivalent training/work experience.
• Minimum 7 years of related experience.
• Strong system design experience.
• Strong object‑oriented development experience.
• Strong experience with cloud technologies.
• Strong experience in data storage technologies.
• Strong experience in performance tuning and optimization.
• Strong experience in DevOps and CI/CD technologies.
• Strong experience in test automation and unit testing.
• Strong software security experience.

Working Conditions

• Hybrid work environment with defined in‑person presence requirements.
• Occasional travel and extended hours may be required.

Benefits

Health & Insurance

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Basic life, accidental death and dismemberment, supplemental life, spouse/domestic‑partner and dependent life, and spouse/domestic‑partner and dependent AD&D coverage.
• Short‑ and long‑term disability, long‑term care, business travel accident, disability, and legal insurance.

Retirement & Financial

• Immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match.
• Eligibility for an additional FINRA‑funded retirement contribution.
• Tuition reimbursement, commuter benefits, and adoption assistance.

Wellness & Work‑Life Balance

• Generous time‑off program: 15 days paid time off, 5 personal days, and 9 sick days (pro‑rated in first year).
• Two volunteer service days per year (full‑time schedule).
• Additional paid leave: military, jury duty, bereavement, voting/election official, family‑care (after 90 days), childbirth and parental (after 90 days).
• Nine paid holidays (full‑time schedule).

Additional Programs

• Employee assistance and wellness programs.
• Backup family care, surrogacy benefits, and other wellness‑supporting initiatives.